Autonomous cooling vest

ABSTRACT

An autonomous cooling vest to cool its user by evaporating a coolant in contact with the user&#39;s skin surface is described. Multifunctional panels attached to the vest in the parts corresponding to the human body are permeable to ambient air and contain a liquid retaining screen kept in contact with the user&#39;s skin. The cooling support system automatically controls the transfer of the coolant liquid contained in a reservoir to each screen and allows the user to adjust the operation of the system to activate and deactivate the ventilation on the liquid retained in the screens and adjust the amount of liquid dispersed over the screens as needed. The flow of air ventilated by the fans and the air that permeates through the referred multifunctional panels favor the evaporation of the liquid retained in the screens, promoting the user&#39;s cooling.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The autonomous cooling integrated vest relates to the field of heatexchange systems, specifically systems to cool an individual. Morespecifically, the described invention relates to the cooling systemsassociated with the garments whose purpose is to maintain thermalcomfort of the users in high temperature environments and to provide theuser with protection against impacts.

STATE OF THE ART

Certain branches of human activity are usually exercised using clothingthat inhibits the exchange of heat between the human body and theenvironment, also, the natural means of cooling the human body canpresent unsatisfactory performance under certain specific environmentalconditions.

There are several inventions proposing individual cooling solutionsintegrated with a vest, among which the following are pointed out.

U.S. Pat. No. 4,580,408 of Apr. 8, 1986, entitled “Water Vest ForMotocross Riders”, features a motorcycle vest composed of impactprotection panels that are permeable to ambient air, and screens made ofa water-retaining material that is in contact with the user's skin, theevaporation of water retained in the screens and intensified by the flowof ambient air that flows through the panels cools the user, whereinsaid screens must be soaked in water when wearing the vest;

U.S. Pat. No. 5,415,222, of May 16, 1995, entitled “Micro-ClimateCooling Garment”, presents a vest with bags permeable to ambient air,with an internal structure in the shape of a honeycomb. Adhered to thishoneycomb structure there is a material that changes its physical stateat certain temperatures;

US application US 2006/0191063, of Aug. 31, 2006, entitled “Garment ForA Cooling And Hydration System”, presents a vest that has a closedcircuit in which water flows, which is cooled when passing through areservoir with ice, pressurized air is injected into the vest toincrease the user's contact area with the vest;

US application US 2009/0165183, of Jul. 2, 2009, entitled “Heat ExchangeGarment”, presents a vest with bags distributed inside the vest that arefilled with a heat exchanger material, wherein these bags must be frozenbefore being used in the vest;

U.S. Pat. No. 8,281,609, of Oct. 9, 2012, entitled “Man PortableMicro-Climate”, presents a vest to which a bundle of flexible tubes isjuxtaposed, air dried and cooled flows through the tubes that areperforated in such that it allows the cold, dry air to come out, and inits place enters hot and humid air that was in the interstice of thevest with the user, this hot and humid air is then treated so that it isdried and cooled and forced again to flow through the piping;

“MOMO ADC Pro Driver Cooling System” features a shirt with a watercircuit juxtaposed to the shirt itself, wherein water chilled by an icebox flows;

“Macna Dry Cooling Vest” features a vest in which the inner part is madeof a water-retaining material and the outer part is impermeable to waterand has holes for the passage of ambient air. The vest is wetted so thatthe inside is soaked in water, the evaporation of this water promotesthe user's cooling;

U.S. Pat. No. 7,721,349, of Jun. 25, 2005, entitled “Flexible personalevaporative cooling system with warming potential”, presents a vest withsmall associated reservoirs from which a coolant permeates and contactsa heat conductive material that is in contact with the user skin and maycontain a fan associated with the vest to ventilate and thus acceleratethe evaporative process; and

U.S. Pat. No. 5,775,590, of Feb. 19, 1998, entitled “Portable mistcooling device”, features a device composed of a manually pressurizedreservoir that squirts a coolant close to the user skin surface,including a valve manually activated to control the amount of liquidused.

Considering portability as a common feature of the various inventionspresented and that portable devices have limited autonomy, it isconsidered that the autonomy of the cooling effect is limited to theamount of heat exchanging substance or the amount of electrical energythat can be charged by the user of the presented inventions. About suchinventions, it can be affirmed that:

Solutions that adopt a melting solid as a heat exchanger have thedisadvantage that melting solid substances suitable for use as heatexchangers for cooling a person absorbs much less heat than theevaporation of these same substances;

Solutions that adopt a liquid-retaining fabric or screen to act as acoolant reservoir have the disadvantage of having its heat exchangerloading capacity limited to the amount of fabric or screen; and

Solutions that adopt the solution of cooling a gas through adiabaticexpansion processes have the disadvantage of the high consumption ofelectrical energy necessary to provide the cooling of an adultindividual.

Which results in little cooling autonomy or in excess weight that theuser should support.

Considering the independence between the cooling effect and the user'sperformance as a very desirable characteristic, systems that depend onthe user to pump or manually activate a valve have the disadvantage ofthe lack of automation resulting in the dependence between obtaining thecooling effect and the performance of the user and resulting in apossible excess of workload for the user.

DISCLOSURE OF THE INVENTION

The autonomous cooling vest is intended to:

provide individual cooling for one person;

provide cooling autonomy for at least one hour regardless of externalresources;

provide means for cooling to occur automatically;

provide means for the user to adjust the use of the cooling resources inorder to control the intensity of the cooling according to their needs;and

be portable.

To provide individual cooling for a person, the present inventioncomprises a vest integrated with a cooling support system.

Evaporation of a liquid in contact with a person's skin surface causes acooling effect. Based on this phenomenon, the present inventiondisperses a coolant liquid on liquid retaining screens which are kept incontact with the surface of the vest user in parts of the bodycorresponding to the chest, back, abdomen, arms or legs.

To have cooling autonomy for at least one hour regardless of externalresources, considering that the said liquid coolant is mainly water,that 2.5 L (liters) of liquid are needed to provide user cooling andthat the said cooling support system consumes electricity at a rate of15 W (watts), then the cooling support system includes:

a reservoir with a storage capacity of at least 2.5 l (two and a halfliters); and

a battery of at least 1250 mah (milliampere.hour) of electric chargecapacity.

For the cooling to occur automatically, the present invention comprisesa set of interconnected devices so that the dispersion of liquid overthe screens and the ventilation incident on the same screens occurswithout the need for user action.

To keep the screens in contact with the user skin surface, each screenis integrated with a multifunctional panel that is attached to the vestin the parts corresponding to the user's chest, back, abdomen, arms orlegs, the multifunctional panel being permeable to ambient air andadapted to accommodate in its interstice the components of the coolingsupport system that act directly on the respective screen.

To distribute the liquid between the reservoir and the various screenslocated on the vest, a duct network connects the reservoir to thescreens.

For the flow of liquid towards each of the screens to be compatible withthe speed of its evaporation, a device called a calibrated orifice,which restricts the flow of liquid through it, is connected to each ofthe terminal branches of the duct network, so that the flow of liquid ineach terminal branch is a function of the pressure of the liquid at theentrance of the calibrated orifice and also a function of the caliber ofthis calibrated orifice.

An air electropump pressurizes the reservoir and a pressure switch,connected to the electropump in order to control its activation, keepsthe pressure inside the reservoir stable and, consequently, keeps thepressure stable at the entrance of each calibrated orifice.

For the user to be able to adjust the amount of liquid that is dispersedon the screens according to his needs, a device, hereinafter called atimer, is connected to a solenoid valve in order to open and close theflow of liquid in the solenoid valve repeatedly according to the openingand closing times adjusted by the user through a selector switchintegrated in the timer. The inlet nozzle of the solenoid valve beingconnected to the liquid outlet nozzle of the reservoir and the valveoutlet nozzle connected to the inlet of the duct network.

For the user be able to adjust the intensity of the ventilation on thescreens, at least one fan installed in the interstice of eachmultifunctional panel ventilates the liquid retained on the respectivescreen of the multifunctional panel, and the wearer controls theactivation of the fans through an electrical current switch button.

Considering that the solution adopted meets the proposed objectives, thepresent invention has an advantage over the state of the art by:

having autonomy of at least one hour regardless of external resources;

being able to use coolant liquids such as water with high energyabsorption power during its evaporation;

being automatic; and

allowing the user to adjust its operation as needed.

DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES

FIG. 1 shows a view of the front part of the vest, showing: theintegration of the vest with the elements of the cooling support systemand the layout and shape of the multifunctional panels located on thefront of the vest.

FIG. 2 shows a view of the back of the vest, showing: the integration ofthe vest with the elements of the cooling support system, the layout andshape of the multifunctional panels located on the back of the vest andthe location and shape of the reservoir.

FIG. 3 shows an example of a screen that comprises the innermost layerof the multifunctional panels.

FIG. 4 shows an example of the intermediate layer of the multifunctionalpanels showing the elements of its conformation.

FIG. 5 shows a fan example.

FIG. 6 shows an example of the outermost layer of the multifunctionalpanels.

FIG. 7 shows an example of a multifunctional panel showing theintegration: with a terminal branch of the duct network, with acalibrated orifice and with a fan.

FIG. 8 shows the second compartment.

FIG. 9 shows the arrangement of components of the cooling support systemin the first compartment.

BEST MODE FOR REPRODUCING THE INVENTION

The vest, preferably:

is made from a vest with a fabric made of leather;

has a zipper (101) sewn on the vest to connect the left and right sidesof the front part of the vest that covers the abdominal and thoracicareas;

it has elastic straps (102 and 103) sewn on the edges adjacent to thefront and back parts of the vest, between the armpits and waist areas,connecting the right and left front parts to the back covering thetorso, the length of these straps being adjustable by a buckle; and

it has leather straps (104 and 105) of 2.0 cm wide and 2.5 mm thick sewninto the vest fabric in the form of straps surrounding the gapcorresponding to the passage of the user arms, and in the form of twostrips (208 and 209) that connect the two straps passing through theback below the cervical area and maintaining a distance of 30.0 cm fromeach other at the midpoint of the belts in form of strips; and

has cutouts of parts of the original vest fabric on the right and leftsides in the chest, abdomen, dorsal and lumbar area making a number ofeight cutouts, made in the shape of the outline of the respectivemultifunctional panel that will be superimposed on each cutout,maintaining a 1.0 cm margin from the cutout to the projection contour.

The cooling support system that is integrated into the vest preferablyconsists of: a reservoir, multifunctional panels, a pressure switch, anair electropump, a solenoid valve, a timer, a calibrated orifice foreach multifunctional panel, a fan for each multifunctional panel, oneelectric current supply, three electric current supply circuits, a ductnetwork with a terminal branch for each multifunctional panel, twoelectric current switches and two compartments.

The reservoir (202), preferably:

is made of flexible 1.0 mm thick rubber wrapped in an inflexible nylonfabric; with internal volume of 2.5 liters;

has a cylindrical shape with an internal diameter of 10 cm and a heightof 35 cm;

has an inlet nozzle (203) at the top of the reservoir with a diameter of4.0 cm, with a 2.5 cm long threaded rod, with a screw cap and with a nutthat fixes the inlet nozzle by pressing the rubber of the reservoiragainst the inlet nozzle flanges;

has an outlet nozzle (205) at the bottom of the reservoir with a spikeconnection for ⅛ in. diameter hoses, with a 1.0 cm long threaded rod andwith a nut that fixes the nozzle by pressing the rubber of the reservoiragainst the outlet nozzle flanges;

has an air passage (204) at the top of the reservoir with a spigotconnection for ⅛ in. diameter hoses, with a 1.0 cm long threaded rodwith a nut that secures the nozzle by pressing the rubber of thereservoir against the flanges of the air passage itself; and

it is surrounded by two straps (206 and 207) 2.0 cm wide and 2.5 mmthick, sewn to the fabric surrounding the reservoir, one 3.0 cm from thetop and another 3.0 cm from the reservoir bottom, such straps being sewnto the straps in the form of strips.

Each multifunctional panel (106, 107, 108, 109, 210, 211, 212 and 213),preferably:

is made in three juxtaposed layers, the outermost layer of resin beingreinforced by aramid fibers 1.0 mm thick, the intermediate layer ofethylene vinyl acetate (eva) 13.0 mm thick, and the innermost layer,which includes the liquid-retaining fabric, made of 300 g/m² grammagecotton fuzzy fabric;

has irregular trapezoidal, pentagonal or hexagonal contours, dependingon the area of the body where the respective multifunctional panel issuperimposed, with circular corners of 2.5 cm radius and with theoutermost layer molded according to the area of the human body that eachmultifunctional panel overlaps;

has holes (601 and 401) that cross the outer and intermediate layersperpendicularly to the surface of the multifunctional panel, the holeshaving a rectangular profile with rounded edges, equally spaced fromeach other, maintaining a distance of at least 1 cm from the edges ofthe multifunctional panel, and covering one third of the surface area ofthe multifunctional panel;

has in the geometric center of the intermediate layer a cavity (402) inthe form of a parallelepiped with a square cross section of 40.0 mm onthe side and 10.0 mm in depth from the outermost surface, where,perpendicular to the plane formed by the bottom of the cavity, a 38.0 mmdiameter circular and through hole (403) is drilled from the geometriccenter of the square in the plane formed by the bottom of the cavity;

has a first channel (404) open on the side of the intermediate layerwith a diameter of 5.0 mm, with an axis of symmetry parallel to thesurfaces of the intermediate layer, starting on the side of theintermediate layer and directed to the geometric center in a straightline, with depth such that the bottom of the channel is positioned 5.0mm away from the walls of the cavity in the form of a parallelepiped;

has a liquid dispersing nozzle formed from a second channel (405) with2.0 mm of diameter, opened in the intermediate layer from the surfacecontacting the screen and directed to the bottom of the first channel,intercepting it such that communicate the first channel to theinterstice between the middle layer and the screen; and

has a third channel (406 and 701) open in the intermediate layer fromthe contact surface with the outermost layer, perpendicular to thissurface and surrounding the entire contour of the intermediate layer 5mm away from the edge of this layer, being the rectangular crosssectional profile of the third channel 10 mm deep and 1 mm wide.

The multifunctional panels are attached to the vest, preferably:

superimposing the cutouts of the original vest fabric corresponding toeach respective multifunctional panel;

sewing each screen of the multifunctional panel directly on the vestfabric, occupying the area corresponding to the respective cutout of theoriginal vest fabric;

sewing each intermediate layer of the multifunctional panel directlyonto the vest fabric, overlapping the respective screen, this sewingbeing made through the third channel opened in the intermediate layer;and

gluing the outermost layer of the multifunctional panel with adhesiveonto the respective intermediate layer.

The pressure switch (901), preferably:

has a normally closed configuration;

has a switching pressure set to 5 psi; and

has a pressure tap with spike connection for hoses with an internaldiameter of ⅛ in.

The air electropump (902), preferably:

has a 12 v direct current voltage supply;

has a flow rate of 2 l/min;

has an outlet nozzle with spike connection for hoses with an internaldiameter of ⅛ in; and

is of the diaphragm pump type.

The solenoid valve (906), preferably:

has a 12 v direct current voltage supply;

has a normally closed type configuration; and

has inlet and outlet nozzles with spike connection for hoses with aninternal diameter of ⅛ in.

The pressure tap socket and the outlet nozzle of the air electropump areconnected by hose segments with an internal diameter of ⅛ in to aY-shaped adapter (907) with spike couplings that is connected by anothersegment (908) from the same hose to the air passage nozzle (204) at thetop of the reservoir.

The inlet nozzle (910) of the solenoid valve is connected to the outletnozzle (205) of the reservoir through a hose segment with an internaldiameter of ⅛ in.

The duct network with a terminal branch for each multifunctional panel,preferably:

connects, through a hose segment with an internal diameter of ⅛ in, theoutlet nozzle 909 of the solenoid valve to a multiple tap (905) of spikecouplings with outlets in an amount equivalent to the number ofmultifunctional panels; and

connects, through segments and hose with an internal diameter of ⅛ inchand an external diameter of ⅕ inch, each outlet of the multiple branch905 to a multifunctional panel.

The calibrated holes (702), preferably:

have adapters for insertion in flexible hoses with ⅛-inch internaldiameter;

are inserted at a depth of 2.0 cm from the outlet nozzle, one in eachterminal branch of the duct network; and

have a caliber of 0.008 in (inches).

The outlet nozzle of each terminal branch of the duct network must beinserted in the first channel (404) of a multifunctional panel at amaximum depth of 2.0 cm and fixed in this position with adhesive asshown in FIG. 7.

The electric current source (904), preferably:

is a battery with three li-ion cells with a charge capacity of 2150 mah(milliampere-hour) each, nominal voltage of 3.6 v (volts) each,connected in series totaling 10.8 v (volts) of nominal voltage.

The timer (903), described as a device with means for repeatedly varyingbetween an open and a closed state of an electrical current supplycircuit, the duration of the opening and closing times of the circuitbeing controlled by the user, preferably:

has a 12 v direct current voltage supply;

it has a selector switch to control the duration of the opening time ofthe electric current supply circuit connected directly to the timerbody;

it has a selector switch (804) to control the duration of the closingtime of the electric current supply circuit connected to the rest of thedevice through cables with 1 m (meter) in length; and

it is capable of varying the duration of closing and opening time of theelectric current supply circuit between 0 s (second) and 60 s (seconds).

The fan (703), preferably:

has a 12 v direct current voltage supply;

has a parallelepiped shape with a square cross section with 40 mm(millimeters) on its side and 10 mm (millimeters) in thickness;

has the capacity to ventilate 4 cfm (cubic feet per minute).

The first electric current supply circuit, preferably:

connects in series the electrical contacts of the air electropump, thepressure switch, a first electric current switch (802) and the battery.

The second electrical current supply circuit, preferably:

connects in series the electrical contacts of the solenoid valve, timer,first power switch and battery.

The third electric current supply circuit, preferably:

connects in parallel the electrical contacts of all fans; and

connects in series the nodes resulting from the parallel connections ofthe fans to the electrical contacts of a second electrical currentswitch (803) and the battery.

The first compartment shown in FIG. 9, preferably:

is made of acrylonitrile butadiene styrene plastic;

is made in the form of a parallelepiped with sides of 20.0 cm, 10.0 cm,5.0 cm and 2.0 mm thick;

it is attached to the reservoir at the height of the midpoint of thereservoir's axis of symmetry; and

contains the air electropump, pressure switch, solenoid valve, timer,battery and multiple tap.

The second compartment shown in FIG. 8, preferably:

is made of acrylonitrile butadiene styrene plastic;

is made in the form of a parallelepiped with sides of 6.0 cm, 3.0 cm,1.5 cm and 2.0 mm thick;

has two strips (806 and 807) of length adjustable by a buckle on eachstrip, which are fixed with adhesive to the second compartment at theends of the surface formed by the 6.0 cm and 3.0 cm sides plane, suchstrips being used for fixing the compartment to the user's forearm;

is connected to the first compartment by a 1 m long conduit (805); and

it contains the first and second electric current switches and the timerselector switch, whose electric current conduction cables pass throughsaid conduit.

1-4. (canceled)
 5. A vest integrated with a cooling support systemintended for the cooling of a person, comprising at least one reservoirof liquid, a duct network, at least one liquid retaining screen, atleast one fan for each liquid retaining screen, at least one propellantpump, means for automatically controlling the functioning of saidcooling support system, means for maintaining each liquid retainingscreen in contact with the user's skin surface and means for irrigatingeach liquid retaining screen with the liquid contained in at least onereservoir; the vest integrated with a cooling support systemcharacterized by further comprising: a) at least one hydraulic devicecomprising means for restraining the flow of liquid which flows throughitself; b) at least one pressure sensor comprising means for sensing thepressure of the liquid; c) at least one valve comprising means foropening and closing the flow of liquid; and d) means for the ventilationproduced by at least one fan to effect on each liquid retaining screen.6. The vest integrated with a cooling support system, according to claim1, characterized by including: a) each reservoir connected to the outletnozzle of said at least one propellant pump for pressurizing eachreservoir, each air pump comprising an air electropump whose electricalcontacts are connected in series to a first electric current supplycircuit; b) each reservoir connected to the pressure tap of said atleast one pressure sensor for sensing the pressure inside eachreservoir, each pressure sensor comprising a pressure switch whoseelectrical contacts are connected in series to the first electriccurrent supply circuit; c) the outlet nozzle of each reservoir connectedto the inlet nozzle of said at least one valve for collecting the liquiddrained of each reservoir, each valve comprising a solenoid valve whoseelectrical contacts are connected in series to a second electricalcurrent supply circuit; d) the outlet nozzle of the solenoid valveconnected to the inlet nozzle of the duct network; e) the outlet nozzleof each terminal branch of the duct network connected to said at leastone hydraulic device for restraining the flow of liquid in therespective terminal branch of the duct network, each hydraulic devicebeing hereinafter referred to as calibrated orifice, comprising anorifice in the tubule whereby the liquid flows, which dimensions makethe amount of liquid ejected as a function of the pressure of the liquidin the terminal branch of the duct network; f) the second electriccurrent supply circuit connected in series to at least one electricaldevice comprising means for repeatedly varying the state of the secondelectric current supply circuit between open and closed, each saidelectric device, hereinafter referred as timer, also comprising at leastone potentiometer through which the user selects the opening state andclosing state times; g) the first and second electric current supplycircuits connected in series to an electric current switch; h) the firstand second electric current supply circuits connected in series to atleast one electric current supply; i) each fan, comprised by a fanpowered by electric current, is connected in series to a third electriccurrent supply circuit; j) the third electric current supply circuitconnected in series to a second electric current switch; and k) thethird electric current supply circuit connected in series to a secondelectric current switch.
 7. The vest integrated with a cooling supportsystem, according to claim 1, characterized by the fact that the meansfor maintaining each liquid retaining screen in contact with the user'sskin surface, the means for irrigating each liquid retaining screen withthe liquid contained in at least one reservoir and the means for thatthe ventilation produced by at least one fan effects on each liquidretaining screen, are supported by a panel, hereinafter referred to asmultifunctional panel, which: a) is fixed to the vest in partscorresponding to the user's chest, back, abdomen, arms or legs; b) iscomprised of juxtaposed layers, the outermost layer being made ofpredominantly rigid materials, the intermediate layer being made ofpredominantly elastic materials and the innermost layer comprising saidat least one screen capable of retaining liquid; c) has perforations andin the outer and intermediate layers; d) contains in the intermediatelayer a channel with a diameter equal to the outer diameter of theterminal branch of the duct network; e) contains in said channel aterminal branch of the duct network; f) contains in the intermediatelayer a dispersion nozzle which interconnects the interstice between theinner and intermediate layers to said channel; g) contains in theintermediate layer at least one cavity with a perforation thattranspasses through the entire intermediate layer; and h) contains insaid cavity a fan positioned so as to ventilate towards said at leastone screen.
 8. The vest integrated with a cooling support system,according to claim 2, characterized by the fact that the means formaintaining each liquid retaining screen in contact with the user's skinsurface, the means for irrigating each liquid retaining screen with theliquid contained in at least one reservoir and the means for that theventilation produced by at least one fan effects on each liquidretaining screen, are supported by a panel, hereinafter referred to asmultifunctional panel, which: a) is fixed to the vest in partscorresponding to the user's chest, back, abdomen, arms or legs; b) iscomprised of juxtaposed layers, the outermost layer being made ofpredominantly rigid materials, the intermediate layer being made ofpredominantly elastic materials and the innermost layer comprising saidat least one screen capable of retaining liquid; c) has perforations andin the outer and intermediate layers; d) contains in the intermediatelayer a channel with a diameter equal to the outer diameter of theterminal branch of the duct network; e) contains in said channel aterminal branch of the duct network; f) contains in the intermediatelayer a dispersion nozzle which interconnects the interstice between theinner and intermediate layers to said channel; g) contains in theintermediate layer at least one cavity with a perforation thattranspasses through the entire intermediate layer; and h) contains insaid cavity a fan positioned so as to ventilate towards said at leastone screen.